Tamar

Do not surrender!

We leave for a moment Joseph’s narration to begin the Special Stories about the four women that Evangelist Matthew includes in Jesus’ genealogy, apart from Mary his mother. It is a very strange thing for the patriarchal society of that period: «Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David a was the father of Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah; and Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa; and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah; and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the exile to Babylon. And after the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called the Messiah» (Matt 1,2-16).
We can read the story of Tamar in chapter 38 of the book of Genesis. Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, after going down from his family, marries a canaanite woman and has three sons from her: Er, Onan and Shelah. Tamar is the wife of his first-born, Er. Er prematurely dies without leaving an offspring. The law of levirate marriage (see Deut 25,7-10), then in use among the Israelites, says that the brother of the dead must take care of the widow, take her to himself and give her children. The first of them is considered offspring of the dead, so that his name would not be extinguished among the people. Onan refuses to carry out his duty as the older brother of Er and because of this injustice dies too. Judah, now without his first sons, promises to Tamar that he would give her the younger one, Shelah, when he would reach the proper age. It is an excuse to wait and keep with him the last son, «for he said, “Lest he also die, like his brothers.”».

«After many days, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite. It was told Tamar, saying, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” She took off of her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn’t given to him as a wife. When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her by the way, and said, “Please come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. [...] He said, “What pledge will I give you?” She said, “Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him». In the third month, when the pregnancy is visible, she is denounced to her father-in-law Judah: «Tamar,  your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute; and moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution». He does not suspect the real paternity of the child and sentences her to be burned. While Tamar is being led to the fire, she sends him a message: «“By the man, whose these are, I am with child.” She also said, “Please discern whose are these - the signet, and the cords, and the staff.” Judah acknowledged them, and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah, my son.”». In a family marked by death (wife and first two sons of Judah) the faith and the courage by Tamar bring new and abundant fecundity: she will give birth to the two twins Perez and Zerah, mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy.
Follow with Rahab’s story when we will read the Book of Joshua.